Improvement in car-ticket nippers



J, THOMAS. Gar-Ticket Nippers.

No. 196,841. Patented Nov. 6,1877.

UNITEIJ STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES THOMAS, OFn SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., ASSIGNOR OF PART OF HIS RIGHT TOCHARLES EABROAI) AND NELSON SPINKS, OF SAME PLACE.

IM PROVAE'MENVTIIN CAR-TICKET NIPPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 196,841, dated November6, 1877; application filed .DeeemberL 1S76.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs TnoMAs, a resident of the city and county ofSan Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improved Car-TicketNipper suitable for Rail` road and Street Cars, &c., of which thefollowing is a specification:

My invention relates to mechanism provided in a car-ticket nipper,whereby the nip, when l with any suitable form of lock as to be accessible only by a particular key in the possession of persons employed forthat purpose, so that these nips may be taken out and counted at certainintervals, the mechanism wound up again, and the registrar again startedfrom its commencing point; the object of my invention being to make suchnipper a check on the receipts of fares taken by the car-conductor, byonly allowing a ticket-nip when actually cut oft' and deposited in thebox to count and sound an alarm, and to prevent any record` ing of thesame by the simple nipping movements of the nippers themselves, inwhatever way they maybe actuated, unless a ticket be thus inserted andcut off in the usual manner',

also, to place such receipts and count on the registrar under thecontrol only, and entirely, of the person or persons deputed to hold thekey of the nipper-box, and to prevent any tampering with the mechanismof the apparatus, whereby a false count and register may be arranged andsubstituted.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical elevation or side view of acar-ticket nipper embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. lwith part of the nipper-box cover removed so asto sliow'the interiormechanism. Fig. 3 is a vertical elevation of the lock for securing thedoor of the nipper-box. Fig. et is a longitud inal vertical elevation ofthe nipper-box with door opened and portion of the nipper-jaws yattached. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of Fig. 2 throughthe line A A. Fig.` 6 is a vertical transverse section of Fig. 4-

Fig. 9 is a view of a ticket adapted to be used in connection with myticket-nipper.

Vith reference to the drawings, H H are the nipper-handles, pivoted toone another 'by a rivet-pin, ai, and provided with a guide-rod,

- g, encompassed by a spring', s, and nipperij aws ff', to which a knifeand boX are respectively fitted, all of which parts are substantiallysimilar to those at present in general use.

The several portions constituting my invention for the purposesaforementioned consist of a box, B, with contained mechanism attached tothe lower jaw j, and a nipping-knife, K, provided with fork F ff', andfinger a attached to the upper jaw j, of which the following is adescription.

The box B is constructed of metallic plates for sides, top, and bottom,but has one side hinged thereto as a door, D, Yand provided with asafety-lock, L, and key Z.

The blade of the knife K terminates in a long finger, a', for actuatingmechanism to be hereinafter described, and has also fitted to it, by ascrew, t, and pin, a fork, F, which terminates in two prongs, j' j".Between these prongs, and in the same plane with them, a knob, c,forming part of the long arm of a bent lever, m mf, is so arranged andfitted, by a pivot-pin, q, to lugs h h', within the box B, that, when aticket is pushed along the ordinary guide z z to the stop S on the coverp of the nipper-box, so as to be brought into aproper position under theblade K, and this blade is pressed down upon it, these prongs j' f ofthe fork F will press this ticket onto this knob e, and by this pressurecause it and the long arm of the lever m m, forming part thereof,

to descend for a distance sufficient to actuate the mechanism for boththe alarm and registering deviees. In order to effect this the lever c mm, near its pivoting-point,1s formed rocked backward and forward on thepivotpin q by the double action caused by the depression of the knob e,and its after release, thus forming an anchor-escapement. This, afterrelease or return is e'ected by a spring, i

d, attached to the side of the box B, and fitted over the pivot-pin g toa pin on the lever near the pawl b'. But as it is found that, by theknob e following the fork-prongs ff immediately after each nip, thisknob is liable to jam such nip of a ticket, the knob c is retarded for acertain interval of time during such movement, in the following manner:A bent lever or trigger, T, pivoted on a pin, i', and

dependent in par-t for its movements on a spring, u', is provided with atooth or catch,

. w, so as to catch and hold this lever e m m by a pin, w', `fixedthereto, when this knob c of the lever e m m has been depressed to itsfullest extent. This movement is eifected by the head 1 of the trigger Tfollowing the iinger aof theknifeKin its descent, being pressed thereonby the spring u', so that when the` notch or tooth w has been broughtimme-v diately over the lever-pin 'w' the lever e m m,

on attempting to return to its original position, by means of thepressure ofthe spring d is held by this trigger T. When, however, the tblade Khas nearlyreturned to itsformer place,

the finger ais made to touch and press backward the head l of thistrigger, and thus instantly disengage the lever e m m, and allow it toreturn to its original position.

For the registering of each ticket nipped the toothed wheel W is fittedloosely onto a shaft, vI, and is made w carry a pawl with spring c andregistering-dial R. This pawl c is actuated by a ratchet-wheel, N,which, with a clock-spring, Q, are attached to this shaft I, the springQ being fastened at one end tothe side of the box, and wound round adrum on the shaft by means ofakey till it has acquired the tensionnecessary. By this arrangement, on each full depression of the knob e acertain movement is made on the numbered registered plate correspondingto the movement of the wheel'W. Since the divisions on the register areof the same number as the teeth on this wheel, and, by this means, as'each ticket is nipped olf by the knife K with fork F, the lever cm b b'will allow of the register-dial advancing a certain distance, which, bybeing marked` and numbered, may be readily read oif, and for thispurpose the register side of the box is provided'with an opening, O,covered with glass, and a fixed needle, n, points in the center of suchopening, so that as the numbered dial R rotates this needle will pointto the exact number of nips or fares cut off by the nipping-blade.

For sounding an alarm as each ticket is nipped, to the bottom of thearched portion of the long arm of the lever e m m a cam, k,

is fitted by a pin, so that its top projecting lug u mayv rest on andagainst a similar projection provided therefor on vone side of thislever. A spring, k', is also attached to the lever e m m, so as to pressonto the cam-lug u. Immediately below theV bottom of this cam k, andseparated from it'only by a short space, is an arm, 1', attached'toashaft, J. This shaft J is iitted to bearings on the bottom plate of thenipper-box, and, in addition to this arm r, is also provided with ahammer-rod and hammer, E.

A spring, y y, is so arranged and wound round this shaft J and attachedto the box B that, when this hammer E is raised out of its normalposition, which is that of resting on the inner edge of the xed gong G,it will, on being released, be forcibly brought back again onto thisgong, thus sounding an alarm. When, then, thelever e m m isdepressed,the cam k will, after a short interval, actuate the arm r, and,consequently, lift the hammer E, but when this hammer has been raised toa sufiicient height to give a stroke to the gong, the cam k will slipthrough vthe opening or recess r of the arm r, the hammer will beinstantly released, and the gong struck, and this striking of the gongwill take place just previous to the lever c m m being held by the catchw of the trigger T. 0n the release of this lever e m, by the iingera'ofthe knife K pressingV back the trigger T, the cam k, on passing the armr r', will be forced backward on its pin, and will return to itsoriginal position again by means of the action of the spring k' on thelug u, so as to be again in place for actuating this arm r r' and hammerE on the gong G, in the manner already described.`

By this arrangement, it is evident that any nipping action ofthe nipperhandles or jaws will neither register on the dial R nor sound an alarmon the gong G unless a ticketbe in serted in the usual manner throughthe guide z z, to the stop S, provided on the plate p. Such tickettherefore becomes the actuating medium for operating the alarm mechanismand for registering itself.

In order to provide against the jamming together of the nips of ticketsas they are nipped, in addition to the holding of the lever e m on forthat purpose, as already described, a spring, fu, is attached to thecover p, so as to rest on and project fora short distance beyond thestop S. This spring necessarily yields to the nips, and allows them tofall without crowding into the nip-compartment X'. By this joint actionof withholding the knob e of the lever c m m for a certain interval, andby springing the` nips by the spring fu, these nips will not be caughtand held between the nipping mech anism.

The nipper-box B is provided, as stated, with a separate compartment, X,and is partitioned oif from the general mechanism by a. partiallongitudinal plate from the side of the box meeting another divisionalpla-te, 3 3, placed transversely to it. For the alarm to be distinctlyheard, perforations o o o are made in the sides of the box forming thatportion covering the gong-compartment, and in order that no tamperingwith the mechanism may take place by means of these perforations, alongitudinal plate, 2 2, separates this gong from the other parts, asshown in Figs. 2 and 4. v

The shaft I is made square at one end, i, so that a key fitted to it maybe made to wind up the spring Q and adjust the dial to its initialpoint. This may be repeated at each trip when the nipper is surrenderedfor examination to the proper officials, or a train of gearing withseveral dials may be substituted in place of this single dial, so thatthe counting and checking, l&c., need not be done more than once daily.

The lock is so arranged that the bit 8 of the key l shall have the wardsat the top'of the pipe or stem, and the mechanism of the lock to beoperated by such key consists of the following parts: tumbler, 9,provided with a T-shaped slot, 4, wherein the teat 5 of a bolt, 6, ismade to operate, is fitted to a lock-easing, so that both the tumblerand bolt may be governed in their movements by a spring or springs, 7.Vhen a right key, Z8, is applied, it will cause the teat 5 of this boltto be shot back within the upright portion of this T-shaped slot, butany other key will only cause the tumbler to move on this teat on thelongitudinal portion of this slot so that the lock can only be opened bythe key that operates so as to cause the teat 5 to travel in the mannerdescribed.

The advantage claimed in such lock, wherein the key used has a bit atthe top of the pipe, is, that no impression can be taken of the lockmechanism concealed from view whereby a false key may be readily fittedthereto, and the contents ofthe nipper-box tampered with.

With reference to Fig. 9-if 72 be a prize number, the top or nip endwill be retained by the nipper-box, and the stub by a passenger, so thata railroad-car company, on publishing a prize-number, will have a doublecheck from this Dipper-box, and by the passenger, who is naturallyanxious to take care of the stub.

I do not claim, broadly, a car-ticket nipper provided with alarm andregistering devices', as I am aware that these are not new but YlVhatIclaim as my invention, and for which I desire to obtain LettersPatent of the United States, is-

l. The knife K, provided with fork F ff f, adapted to operate, by meansof the ticket-nip, on the oscillating lever c m on, anchor-escapement l)b IV, actuatingmechanism for the same, as herein shown, and theregistering-dial R, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The knife K, provided with fork F f f f, adapted to operate, by meansof the ticketnip, on lever c m k', cam k u, arm r i", hammer attachmentwith spring E J y y, and the fixed gong G, all arranged, as hereinshomi, for sounding an alarm onlywhcna ticket is nipped off,substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the knife K, provided with fork F f f adapted tooperate, by means of the ticket-nip, on the oscillating lever e m m, toactuate the alarm and registering mechanism herein shown, or theirequivalents, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

4. The knife K, provided with the finger a, in combination with thenotched trigger T w u', and the oscillating lever c m m, provided withpin w', and return-spring el, all arranged as herein shown, whereby saidlever, when depressed, may be caught by the trigger and held for acertain interval of time, so that the ticket-hips may have time to fallfreely into the nip-compartment X, after having been cut from theticket-stub, substantially as herein set forth.

5. The knife K, provided with fork F ff and finger a, in combinationwith the trigger T 1.0 u', oscillating lever, with anchor-escapement e mb b IV, and the registering and alarm mechanism described, or theirequivalents, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth andspecified.

6. The lever c m on, provided with cam 7c u and spring k', incombination with the shaft J, provided with arm o* i", spring y y, andhammer E, all arrangedfor striking the fixed gong G, substantially asand for the purposes herein set forth and specified.

7 The spring fr, fitted onto the box-cover p and resting on the stop S,in combination with the ticket-guide z z, knife K, and oscillating levere m m, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth andspecified.

8. The nipper-box B, fitted to the lower jaw and )rovided with ni J-comiartment X )arv .7 a l 7 titions 2 2 3 3, opening O, with fixed needle afor the registering-dial It, pcrforations o 0 o for the gong G, andhinged doorl),fitted with lock L, as described, substantially as and forthe purposes herein set forth and specied.

9. The combination, substantially as specified, of the escapement-lever,the cutter or knife, and the fork f'or operating on the escapement-leverthrough means of the nips cut from the ticket or slip.

J AMES THOMAS.

Witnesses JAMES Lt KING, LIONEL VARIcAs.

